singles. the capitals win 25-10 and they are now 3-0. all right, still plenty ahead. the weather, traffic, all of the top stories, fox 5 morning news continues right now. there's a live look at the -- is that the capitol building right in the middle there? >> yes, it is. >> yeah, far away shot. dark skies, a little lazy. we're going -- hazy. good morning everybody, i'm tony perkins. >> and i'm sarah simmons you seemed sure about that. >> that's what it said in the pressers. >> welcome to fox 5 morning news. all right, the weather? >> but first, there it is. the space shuttle atlantis is all fueled up and ready to go. however the weather may not cooperate for the morning's historic launch. only a 30% chance the skies will be clear for liftoff. despite the forecast, nasa managers gave the okay for fueling the shuttle a few hours

ago. the 12 day mission is the last of the space shuttle program. a million people are lining the space coast this morning hoping the watch the final launch -- to watch the final launch of the space shuttle. >> it is really sad. >> it is bittersweet. it's been a workhorse. >> what would the gas bill on that be? >> ooh boy. we don't want to know. >> might want it to go. >> so much of it is used up so quickly. good luck, i think the weather down there is going to be tough. but around here the potential for some pretty good rains later today and in fact, we have a flash flood watch. that's coming up in just a minute. there's the hd radar, now showers are popping up to richmond, some showers are popping up there and this will be streaming north on a subtropical jet stream later today and you can see the rain to the west. that combination, going to get squeezed out later today across the washington area. the potential for pretty good thunderstorms and lock of

showers. i think the second half of the day will be when the heaviest pros through. let's go the flash flood watch. most of the area under the flash flood watch goes into effect at noon through the evening. to baltimore and glen bernie, likely to do that again later this afternoon and tonight in parts of the area with the big storms developing. 77 at reagan national. here's the forecast. good news with the clouds around, temperatures will be in the mid 80s. bad news the showers and thunderstorms developing some with heavy rain. all right sir. thank you very much. get more later. we're going to get traffic with julie in a moment. but first the closing open the vw parkway. >> it was shutdown earlier because of the carjacking and we get more now from sherri ly. what do you have? >> reporter: well, right now, there's some good news to report as you can see right behind me, we've got traffic moving again along 50 and vw parkway. 295.

and kenilworth. everything is reopened. of course it was a traffic nightmare earlier this morning. cars being diverted around this carjacking. we're being told that a suspect in a carjacking from anne arundel county bailed out around 295 around kenilworth and that was shutdown and then access from new york avenue headed eastbound on to 50 there on the ramp was shutdown. we saw a number of cars just parked right there on new york avenue probably more than a hundred people standing outside waiting to be able to move. it is all reopened again. we are told one suspect is in custody. canine units were out here from prince george's county police. searching for a possible second suspect who we're now being told it is unclear if there was in fact a second suspect. good nudes again though -- news again though, everything is reopened just in time for the morning rush hour.

that's the latest from here, back to you. now we've had another incident this morning on the vw parkway. lot going on for sure. julie, what's the latest out there? >> the accident which occurred overnight only the baltimore washington parkway at 197 reopened shortly before 4:00 a.m.ment we've got lanes open in each direction now traveling on the vw parkway in the direction of laurel. so again, all lanes reopened on the vw parkway. sherri ly was reporting live i believe from the lanes down near northeast washington. the vw parkway, route 50, new york avenue, where they all come together if you will. also cleared. so better news on the parkway. lanes open in each direction traveling between laurel and the d. c. lionel. take it inside and update the ride elsewhere. southbound along 270. lanes are open now through south. no incidents to report right now as you continue southbound good gaithersburg into rocksville. that's a check of the fox 5

morning news. all right julie, thank you very much. new this morning, a gunman is dead after police say he shot and killed seven people including his daughter and ex- girlfriend. police say rodrick dantzler opened fire in? two homes before leading police on a high speed chase, crashing his car and taking hostages. the standoff ended when dantzler shot himself to death. the three hostages were not hurt. in texas, mexican national humberto leal was put to death for rape asking killing 16 -- raping and killing a 16-year- old girl. he was entitled to legal advice from the mexican consummate through a three -- consulate from a treaty. and potentially put u.s. citizens at risk of similar treatment. sarah in. all right, this morning we know the florida mom cleared of murdering her little girl is scheduled to leave the orange county jail on july 17th.

not three days earlier as expected. marion afterty has the latest on casey anthony. >> reporter: seen smiling, winking and twirling her locks in court all before getting some great news on thursday. in a matter of just days there's been an incredible reversal. instead of facing the death penalty, anthony is set to walk out a free woman on sunday, july 17th. her release date was recalculated giving her three more days behind bars than she expected. now juror number three is speaking out about the acquittal. >> they didn't prove the cause of death. if you don't know what the crime was, you can't punish someone for that crime. >> reporter: the judge gave casey a $1,000 fine and one year in jail for each count. that's four years total but casey anthony has already served more than 1,000 days in jail. judge belvin perry is leaning toward keeping the names of the other jurors a secret for now because of safety concerns. >> what do i do when you have

an atmosphere where you have people who want to -- fillet people open? pour salt on them? >> reporter: but several media organizations are argue, for the release of their names. >> it's our system that we have always operated under. we simply don't have anonymous juries. >> reporter: outside the courthouse, again after anthony's sentence was handed down, a mass of people protested against the proceedings, but juror jennifer forbes stands by her duties. >> they picked people who had no bias, which equates to a fair trial which everyone in the country deserves. >> reporter: at least one job offer came casey anthony's way. it was in los angeles for vivid, an adult entertainment company. fox news, new york. turning to economic news

this morning, president obama is calling top lawmakers back to the white house over the weekend for more budget talks, the president already met with them yesterday and describes the talks as quote very constructive. they remain far apart on the agreement, but they are still talking. the president hopes they will be ready to deal when they meet on sunday. prince george's county schools paying quite a price for labor violations. the conditions of their settlement coming up next on fox 5. plus, disturbing details coming the light about a convicted peeping tom in maryland. investigators say he has hundreds of victims and that's not all. fox 5 morning news will be ricket back. it is now 5:-- right back. it is now 5:08. 

a maryland man caught with thousands of videos of women he secretly recorded was innocenced to 10 years in prison. 35-year-old charles novak of crofton was convicted on burglary and other charges. novak was arrested in december of a woman told police she found a man sitting in a car in her garage. officers found novak with a camera filled with nude videos of women. novak's attorney says his client is obsessive-compulsive

and wants to get help. sarah, prince george's county is shelling out more than $4 million for violating labor laws. it is going to teachers who were recruited from other countries and the "washington post" reports 161 of the teachers will lose their jobs this summer when their visas expire and hundreds of more terminations are likely over the next few years. this is all because prince george's county were supposed to pay visa fees. election officials say enough signatures were turned in to stop the dream law and force a statewide referendum. the law lets illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition discounts at state colleges. opponents of the measure say the public should be able to weigh in on that law. the annual running o the bulls is underway at pamplona. we're going to take a look at some of the chaos on fox 5. then metro unveils the newest design for the rail

cars. but more trouble for the metro to dulles project. we're going to talk about that when he come back. it -- we come back. it is now 5:13. 

oh, here we go. thousands of daredevils or crazy people ran through the streets of spain's pamplona city for the running of the bulls, they ran over anything in their path. four people were hurt. >> you think a lot of these -- same men do this every year and it's like the competition with all of them. who doesn't get hit by the bull? i can't believe. >> i've never really understand what it is. i know, i know what the event is, but i don't understand why anyone would really do it. >> but everyone around the world is watching including us so it's -- >> we just think how crazy they are. cheap thrills. >> it is a cheap thrill.

>> unless you get hurt. all right, i'm not allowed the talk about that. right to the weather and we'll let you know that the forecast for today is looking rainy. yeah, looks like we're going to get some pretty good shocking rains in here this -- soaking rains in here this afternoon. some shower activity to the north and some highway rain in baltimore -- heavy rain in baltimore over the evening and early morning hours. a repeat of today. showers and thunderstorms redevelop to richmond and when i open up for you, we have a lot of rain to the west and a lot of tropical moisture across the carolinas streaming in from the south and the south and west. so bottom line we're going to be in for a rainy one today. i think most of the morning hours should be fine but in the afternoon a better and better chance of some soaking rains around here. all right, temperature right thousand at reagan national. 79 degrees. that is not right at 5:00 in the morning. 79 in annapolis, 73 in leonardtown. mountains 69, martinsburg 69 in

hagerstown. the futurecast together and take a look and here we are at 1:00. by 1:00 we'll see the showers and thunderstorms kind of fill in. but look what happens later this afternoon and tonight. whoa, by 9:00, 10:00 tonight. some widespread very heavy rain around here at least the potential for it and the areas will be slow movers and the storms could drop a couple of inches of rain in a short period of time. we've got the flash flood watch in our area. by tomorrow morning we should be waking up with some sunshine and a good looking day tomorrow. i think the weekend will be dry with temperatures tomorrow afternoon only in the 80s. so it will get better from here. 86 this afternoon. flash flood watch in effect starting at 12:00 noon today. plenty of clouds out there. there's the showers and thunderstorms back in the forecast. some of those heavy rain producers and wind out of the south at 5 to 10. mostly cloudy overnight, 71 the overnight low. 87 tomorrow, best chance for the shower will be east of the city down to the bay and the

shore. your showers will hang on a little longer saturday morning and hot by monday. that's a look at weather, now some traffic with julie wright. it's been a busy morning out there on the highways. all lanes are open now on the baltimore washington parkway to and from laurel and along the d. c. line to kenilworth avenue and northeastern. now authorities are checking for a car fire along groan belt road -- green belt road crossing over kenilworth avenue. lanes open on 66 coming in from manassas. no problems reportedly on business 234 to centreville. beltway is smooth, southbound 270, you guys are good to go south of 109 headed out the mba. that's a check of the fox 5 on time traffic, the board is weighing in on the controversy overthe dulles project. phase two of the project has been mired in a fight over whether to locate the -- where

to locate the station and runway costs. >> the cost of metro's rail line to dulles airport keeps soaring. now $3.8 billion and now the rising costs and the controversy over whether to put it above or below ground could be a deal breaker. >> what's become clear in recent weeks is that the agreements between the airport authorities and the jurisdictions has begun to unravel. >> federal transit administrator briefed the board about transportation secretary ray lahood's compromise plan to bring the cost down to the $2.5 billion original estimate. >> i would hope the region can come together. >> under the plan the cost of parking garages is passed down the fairfax and loudoun town counties. metro could study whether to reduce the number of rail cars. saving more than half a billion dollars to put it aboveground. >> i understand there's economic realities, but i think

we're getting a second class product. >> with respect to the airport service, i think this service as configured with the aerial will be competitive with rail access to most airports. >> jerry continually sent a letter reporting the commonwealth be required to put its distribution on the table before we meet again. >> the commonwealth of virginia has yet to put anything on the table. in fact it's the only party to the talks that has put zero on the table. >> virginia agreed to contribute $150 million to the rail project. but a spokesperson for governor mcdonnell only said the administration is working with secretary lahood, fairfax and loudoun county to get as close to the original estimate and this and other options are being considered. >> i think it's the best shot to keep rail moving out to fairfax. >> whatever decision is made it will eventually be metro's responsibility.

>> now the transit administrator told the board it's important not to let perfect be the enemy of good. in other words, some of the options may not be perfect, but it's still good. tony? all right, sarah, thank you very much. we also got a sneak peek at metro's new 7,000 series rail cars. the final decision comes from rider input and really tries to make the raid more comfortable. they will have a blue gray interior and wider aisles and security cameras. it's due to open in 2013. it has been in print for more than a century. >> yeah, but now the biggest scandal to hit this british tabloid will take it down. details coming up next on fox 5 morning news. stay with us. it's 5:22. 

welcome back. one of europe's most popular newspapers stopping the presses for good in weekend shutting down after phone hacking scandal. >> prime minister david cameron is calling for full public inquiry led by a judge. fox's amy kellogg has the story. >> reporter: the newspaper at the center of the storm will roll off the presses just one last time this sunday and the profits will go to good causes according to james more dock who runs the international side of the media group. the tabloid "news of the world" at one point has been the best selling english language paper in the world. until recently the top sunday

paper in britain. >> i feel regret. clearly the practices of certain individuals did not live up to the standards and quality of journalism that we believe in and that i believe in. and that the company believes in. >> reporter: at issue a long running phone hacking scandal in which the victims had been largely celebrities. but there was outrage when allegations emerged that the paper hacked the phones of a schoolgirl who had been abducted and ultimately killed and victims of the terror attacks on london transport. the prime minister cameron former press sec caught in the hacking -- secretary caught in the hacking scandal called for an inquiry. >> what the government is doing is making sure that the public and i feel so appalled by what happened. murder victims and terrorist victims who had the phones hacks is quite disgraceful. there needs to be a full police investigation with all the powers they need.

>> reporter: there's also allegations that "news of the world" paid police for what they needed. rupert murdoch didn't give comments in idaho but he issued a statement yesterday calling the allegations of phone hacking and payments to police both deplorable and unacceptable and vowed they will cooperate with the investigation. scotland yard has a list of 4,000 potential victims of phone hacking. there are fresh allegations that family members of the war dead may have been among the targets. james more dock said "news of the world" is in the business of holding others to account, but it failed when it came to itself. in london, amy kellogg, fox fox news. >> "news of the world" is owned by the parent company news corp. we still have plenty ahead on fox 5. with the debt ceiling deadline fast approaching, this will be a working weekend for congress. we're going to head to capitol hill for the latest straight ahead of the break. -- after the break.

[ female announcer ] welcome to busch gardens williamsburg,

where d.c. goes to get away. maybe it's because washington d.c. loves the legendary coasters. or that your entire family will have fun, even the little ones. it could be that water country usa has more of the waves, slides and rides everyone wants. so plan your getaway and come play. you never know who you'll run into. get started at buschgardens.com/dc.

listen up parents, the disney channel is looking for local talent. they're holding an open casting call this weekend in richmond, virginia. invited the attend? kids ages 10 to 18 who can act, dance or sing. this gets underway tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. at the greater richmond convention center. you can find more information on the event on the website at myfoxdc.com. oh, can you imagine the squeals coming from those kids there? >> oh, yeah.

>> they will be inundated with dancing singing children. >> i didn't have any of the attributes at age 18. >> you didn't? i can't believe that. >> neither did i. >> you're very good in the weather area though. >> they're in the looking for that. let's get to the -- not looking for that. lets get to the hd radar. the heads-up, some of those are going to be on the heavy side this afternoon. we have a flash flood watch which goes into effect at noon. hd radar, right now we're quiet. look what's starting the blaze up to the east of richmond. you can see it there to the south down 95 and those showers already spreading to the north and east over the lower eastern shore. that combination with a cold front out to the west that a lot of tropical moisture in florida and the northern gulf of mexico will come streaming up and get squeezed out like a sponge around here and we have the potential for a lot of moistures maybe one, two, three inches of rain later today. that's a lot of rain in a short period of time. all right, temperature at

reagan national. 79 degrees. then plenty of humidity around here as well and so plenty of water in the atmosphere. 70 in winchester, 77 right now in ocean city. your forecast for today, rather stormy this afternoon with some showers and thunderstorms developing and again, more widespread than yesterday. i think most of us will see something and some of us will see some pretty heavy rain here later today and early tonight. >> going to be messy out there. >> okay. thank you. julie wright can tell you what's happening on the area roadways. >> it has been and i'm glad to see things are calming down just a bit especially for people on the bw parkway. traveling between 197 and laurel and d. c. 295 to kenilworth, all lanes are open in each direction. southbound 270, no incidents to report right now coming from 109. southbound to mba, all lanes here are open. traffic is running smoothly. the incident near the northwest branch near university boulevard and new hampshire avenue on the topstitch of the beltway. top stretch of the beltway.

no incidents to report right now. westbound lanes are open and eastbound lanes reports of an accident. that's a check of the fox 5 on time traffic. thank you julie. the big story this morning, space fans are over the moon with anticipation, but they may have to wait for the final launch of the space shuttle atlantis. >> fox news correspondent jonathan hunt with more on the historic mission this morning. >> reporter: space shuttle atlantis sits on the pad, a nearby lightning strike moving harmless, but mother nature is threatening to put a damper on its final liftoff. >> for launch our main concern is still having showers and thunderstorms in the area. >> reporter: enthusiasts can't get enough of the final mission. hundreds of thousands expected to crowd the launch site from tennessee -- >> i mean, it's a part of history. >> reporter: and from texas. >> there's going to be a lot of people here. a lot of cameras going off and a lot of pictures and everything. >> reporter: many people wishing they didn't have to say

good-bye. >> there's a sense of sadness there. >> reporter: even spend the money to stick around in case of delay. >> i'm extremely excited. >> reporter: four astronauts will carry food and supplies bound for the international space station. the last flight of an era as nasa turns its focus to deep space. >> nasa is going next to take humans farther than ever before. beyond the moon to an asteroid and on ward to mars. >> reporter: nasa has launched in summer storms so far and so far still has the sights on liftoff at friday morning at 11:00 a.m. jonathan hunt, fox news. en audiotape it danio -- an update on the casey anthony sentencing. she will now walk out of jail a free woman on sunday, july 17th. it's the result of inoculation

of time that she has already served. the judge gave her the maximum sentence of four years for lying to police about the death of her 2-year-old daughter. he denied a request by defense lawyers to combine the four counts. on tuesday the jury found her not guilty of killing caylee. well, with the debt ceiling deadline fast approaching this will be a working weekend for congressional leadership on capitol hill as both sides try to hammer out a multitrillion dollar blueprint on taxes and spending. fox's nicole collins is live this morning with the latest. good morning nicole. good to see you. what came out of yesterday's meeting? >> reporter: yielded very little results, but as you mentioned this will be a working weekend. one thing that came out of the moting is the -- meeting is second meeting scheduled at the white house for sunday that everyone will be taking part in and also everyone at this table

agreed that we have the top four democrats and republicans in the house and in the senate plus vice president joe biden and president se. they all agreed august 2nd is the deadline leer. there has been some talk about whether there's flexible. everyone agrees at that table that august 2nd is the deadline for the u.s. to default on its debt if that debt ceiling is not raised. with the president coming out after the meeting and saying that sunday meeting everyone should have their bottom lines ready and that hard goating will be set to begin. but they're still far apart like whether or not to raise taxes or to cut spending particularly social security and medicare. >> well, and that brings up the issue -- i mean, both sides are going to have to give up at least a little bit. maybe a lot. what is being done to pave the way for that? why do we think you know, today is friday, that by sunday, they might be ready with their bottom lines?

>> reporter: well, look, word on the hill -- word among negotiators and people familiar with the meetings is that everyone involved wants to get something done sooner rather than later. congress would need a deal by the 22nd of this month in order to get it passed by august 2nd. but you know, financially, if this doesn't happen fast, everyone's worried what would happen in the financial markets. i think that one particular issue is lending some urgency here. republicans have signaled some room for movement here. they may be okay with -- with some -- some loopholes. tax loopholes being closed or cutting for some corporations. but you know, one thing that's happening today that is interesting is the president is meeting with house minority leader nancy pelosi and that could signal perhaps how serious he is about including some sort of entitlement spending cuts. >> thank you for joining us

this morning. nicole collins. coming up the olympic committee makes its decision. we're going to share the location of the 2018 winter olympics. that's coming up next. then it's the one thing most dog owners really don't enjoy too much. picking up after their pets, but could dog waste actually be of some good? how some students are using it to better their environment. we'll be right back.  hershey's drops. a lot of hershey's happiness in a little drop of chocolate. pure hershey's.

♪ hershey's chocolate syrup. stir up a smile.

making headlines this morning, san francisco police have recovered a stolen picasso drawing and arrested man they say walked off with it. it was taken from the gallery on tuesday. security cameras captured the whole thing. police say the man on the video is 31-year-old mark lugo from new jersey, he's now behind bars facing several charges. we all know about solar and wind power as alternate forms of energy, but what about dog poop power? students at arizona state university are working on a machine to turn dog waste into methane gas. the first experiment is to power a street light. all right, crowds cheered as south korea was named the host country for the 2018 winter olympics. it will be held in the capitol

pyeongchang. it was considered a favorite after losing out twice in recent years. in 2014, they'll be in russia. american troops are supposed the leave iraq by the end of the year. but the white house is willing to keep about 10,000 american soldiers in the country beyond that deadline if the iraqi government makes that request. >> up next, we're going talk with "washington post" reporter ed o'keefe about the situation over there. he'll join us on the phone from baghdad when we return. 

16 students from d. c. are in florida this morning guests of nasa to watch final shuttle launch there. they were involved in a science and earning nearing contest that -- engineering contest that nasa sponsored as smart as they are, they also real estated they are get -- realized they are getting a chance to watch history. >> it still hasn't hit me yetment but when i was at home, i was talking to my mom. she said this is a great opportunity and not a lot of people get that and i was thinking yeah, this is true. >> the students plan to head

home today following the launch which you of course can see here on fox 5. good for them. i'm glad they get to watch that. >> very cool. something i never did. yeah. >> me either. >> i wish i had. >> very smart kids. >> okay we're going to keep the fingers crossed that the launch takes off on time here today because to be honest with you, the weather is snot great down there -- is not great down there today. we'll see what happens and maybe get lucky. >> can they launch with rain? i know they can't with lightning and thunder and thunderstorms. >> i think they have visibility and wind issues. but you know still eight hours away or so and we'll see what happens. later this morning. all right, around here we have a wet friday and it's actually centered with a -- associated with a tropical system down to florida. plenty of moisture available later today and for us that will mean plenty of rain. at least the potential for plenty of rain starting later this afternoon. i think most of the rain should

be dry. i can't guarantee it. but later this afternoon the potential for pretty heavy rains around the d. c. area. and a lot of tropical moisture. the area of low pressure here that's trying to develop. in fact the national hurricane center is watching it to see if it develops further and it's getting thrown up the even seaboard. with -- eastern seaboard. with slightly cooler drier air to the west, we have the potential for showers and thunderstorms later today. here's a look from florida and again we were just talking about the space shuttle and down in cape canaveral. you can see the rain come spinning around down in southern florida. we've got a flood watch which goes into effect -- the flash flood watch at 12:00 noon today through the evening hours, that's here in washington and all of the counties, the exception to the north and west and the concern here is much like what happened last night over baltimore. a thunderstorm over your house

and 2, 3-inches of rain in a short period of time. the flash flood watch goes into effect at noon. 79 now at reagan national. 75 at quantico. we have a lot of moisture available in the atmosphere for later today. there you go, lots of clouds and scattered showers and thunderstorms developing. better chance this afternoon than this morning. and some of those will be locally heavy rain producers. 86 your daytime high and then early showers and thunderstorms tonight really through the midnight hour and then becoming cloudy overnight. good news is we're going to kick it out of here early tomorrow morning. i think mostly sunny skies by tomorrow afternoon and 87 degrees. sunday looks beautiful, sunshine, 91. monday looks like, 94 and -- fine, 94 and hot. could be afternoon or late evening thunderstorms on tuesday. now with traffic and julie wright. you ain't got to tell me twice honey. i got you on that one. inbound along 66 from manassas, no problems to report.

business 234 at centreville, light traffic. here we go, outer loop looking good to 270. westbound green belt road crossing over kenilworth avenue. stay to the right in each direction in order to get by. traveling southbound along 270. lanes are open coming in from 109 to the beltway. that's a check of the fox 5 on time traffic. u.s. officials are calling it another effort to drive american troops out of iraq. two u.s. soldiers were killed by shiite bomb attack yesterday outside of the main military base in baghdad. it follows the deadliest months for u.s. troops in iraq in two years. 15 u.s. soldiers died in june. ginning us is what's "washington post" federal live reporter ed o'keefe. good morning ed. >> reporter: good morning. >> with the latest news and of course the deadliest month for u.s. troops in iraq in two years, is the situation

deteriorating over there? >> reporter: deteriorating is probably too strong of a word. but u.s. first of alls have said in recent weeks they always -- officials have said in recent weeks they anticipated there would be an uptick in violence as they got closer to the pullout of them in december. a lot of the violence would be going on if the u.s. troops aren't here. three of the major groups backed by iran in one way or another would be targeting iraqis instead of a more high- profile u.s. target like the troops killed on thursday. >> how would you say people are responding to the political debate about troop withdrawal? we know the white house just said the past week it's willing to keep 10,000 soldiers over there beyond its deadline. how are they responding, the citizens and folks you talk there over there about this? >> reporter: well, first of all it's still not clear if it's 10,000 or 2,000 or if it's 20,000 troops that might stay

beyond december. a number really hasn't been floated at least in iraq. the big question is what exactly would iraq want u.s. troops to do? perhaps participate in counterterrorism measures or some other kind of role for them? and really iraq is wait for the political leaders to make up their mind. they have to figure out that and finish establishing the cabinet and figuring out who's in charge of the defense and interior min cities down here and once the decisions are made, it would be decided on whether or not they want u.s. troops to stay. the white house is open to entertaining that kind of request, but the iraqis have to make it first. >> ed, how long have you been over there right now? >> reporter: i'm coming up on two weeks. having been here. and yeah, about two weeks. >> how -- how do you and also contractors and troops there, how is it dealing with the violence? do you get the sense from talking with others maybe that

have been there a little bit longer if this is just sort of normal everyday -- this is what occurs or what do you get the sense of over there as to the violence level right now? >> reporter: sure, i mean, it doesn't really -- like it used to be. it was really bad back in 2006 and 2007. bombings constantly across the country and baghdad. a lot of it is focused at local government officials, the police and iraqi army soldiers. you have that kind of violence going on all the time and it becomes sort of a regular thing. frankly just like petty crime goes on in the washington area, just here it's obviously a lot more dramatic. you've got suicide bombings, targets assassinations, booby trapped vehicles that blow up and kill people and it's become kind of a way of life. but definitely when you talk to people -- americans and iraqis have been here since the start of the star. violence is -- war. violence is down dramatically but continues ad a noticeable

clip. >> ed o'keefe with the "washington post," thank you so much. also topping international news on a different front, prince william and kate middleton on their first official foreign tour. >> the royal couple heads to l. a. today and we've got a preview coming up next on fox 5 morning news. stay with us.

all right, l. a. is getting ready to host some royalty. >> as fox's adam house lee

reports, the duke -- adam housley reports, the duke and duchess of cam bridge are heading to los angeles. >> reporter: the black tie dinner honoring prince william and kate is being hosted by nigel lythgoe. >> i've been turning away a lot of good friends in actual fact because it isn't you know -- you can't buy tickets for the event. it is by invitation only and it's really difficult pause everyone is saying to -- because everyone is saying to me, i should be there and you're going i'm sorry, i can't invite you. >> reporter: captivating the world with their april wedding, the two are making their first official north american visit and nygel knows why the spotlight is so intense. >> they are now the couple of the world. you know, everybody wants to meet them. everybody wants to congratulate them and they're a wonderful magnet for all of the hollywood

executives that are coming to the evening. it is stressful planning it. i mean, it's been planned now for -- i guess i heard about it at the end of last year. so i've been biting my tongue because obviously we couldn't release anything to anybody. and just quietly planning it -- undercover if you like you've got fabulous feet! >> reporter: and as the dance judge, juggles producing the hit fox show and the auditions for season 11 of "american idol." >> it's beautiful. i think the royal wedding came at a time where we needed something in all our lives that just brightened us up. you know, the economic crisis that hit the world, sort of brought everybody down and there's nothing better than a royal wedding to lift us up. and that's what we got and a beautiful wedding it was too. so we're excited. >> reporter: in hollywood, adam housley, fox news. >> straight ahead at can have,

the film -- 6:00, the film "horrible bosses" is reviewed. >> mccarthy joins us to talk about it. don't go anywhere, we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] welcome to busch gardens williamsburg,

where d.c. goes to get away. maybe it's because washington d.c. loves the legendary coasters. or that your entire family will have fun, even the little ones. it could be that water country usa